Jake Speed (1986)

Thumbs up!

This was a movie I loved when I was a teenager and had been looking for it for a long time. This was the first time I found it and am very happy with my purchase. I got it a day later than was expected but we had just had a bad snow storm the day before so the delay was understandable. March 5, 2008

A great, goofy, fun adventure!

Jake Speed is a really fun and cute adventure movie, and with a great actor like John Hurt playing the bad guy, and a really cute Karen Kopins as the lead actress, it is a lot of fun, a cute and fun adventure with some good humor, and I recomend this to anyone who like a fun and funny action/adventure movie, or to those who like movies such as Shanghai Noon or Knight's, other Jackie Chan movies, Ice Pirates, and movies like this, and if you like these you will really enjoy Jake Speed! September 19, 2007

i can't tell you why,but i have loved this movie from the first time i saw it

this is one of those movies i saw in the blind( knew nothing about it just sat down and watched it) and i was suprised at how much i liked it.
jake speed is a pulp fiction charter(like bond,mack bolan,and others.) when her sister is kidnapped a young woman does as her grandfather asks and calls jake speed,and what do you know,he's real and will help find her sister.
i know a very slim story but the cast makes the most and more of it to come up with this great spoof of pulp novels,action movies,and anything else it can think of. a great comedy,drama,action movie,and even a little romance thrown in. if you give it a chance i think you might like it. May 22, 2006

"Don't worry. When you're right, nothing can happen to you."

The film Jake Speed (1986) poses an interesting question...what if those action/adventure heroes popularized in the pulp novels (Doc Savage, Mack Bolan, Remo Williams, etc.) were real, and their exploits within the novels were based off their true life adventures? Co-written by Wayne Crawford and Andrew Lane (Lane also directed here), the pair behind the popular 1980s film Valley Girl (1983), the film stars Crawford (White Ghost, The Evil Below) and Karen Kopins (Creator, Once Bitten), who looks a hell of a lot like Erin `Col. Wilma Deering' Gray from the television show "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century". Also appearing is Dennis Christopher (Breaking Away, Chariots of Fire) and John Hurt (Alien, The Elephant Man, V for Vendetta).

The film begins with a lengthy sequence taking place in Paris involving the kidnapping of a young, female American college student (the oversized USC sweater hanging off the shoulder was sort of a giveaway) by a couple of tough looking locals. Back in the states we meet Margaret Winston (Kopins), who, as it turns out, is the older sister to the girl we saw abducted earlier. Guilt weighs heavily on Margaret's mind as she's the one who pushed her sister to go out and experience the world, and now blames herself for her sister's predicament. Her grandfather, played by Leon Ames, recommends they try to get one of the men from his pulpy adventure novels to take the case, indicating perhaps it's time to up the dosage of Grandpa's medication. Things seem bleak, but hope arrives in the form of a mysterious note, one that leads Margaret to a meeting with none other than Jake Speed (Crawford), a character from one of the novels gramps favors so much, and Desmond Floyd (Christopher), Speed's assistant (maybe Grandpa wasn't as loony as he first appeared, but I still think he could do with more meds). Seems the men are interested in taking on the job of recovering Margaret's sister (turns out she's somewhere in Africa, taken in by a white slavers), but only if Margaret accompanies them (every pulpy adventure story needs a comely female lead). Margaret's leery at first, but agrees mainly because Jake and Desmond seem men of action, and she's gotten farther in finding her sister in one day with them than five weeks with the state department. Anyway, Margaret arrives in a podunk African town on the verge of being torn apart by revolution, and the fun begins. After some wild and wooly adventures, Margaret is ready to call it quits (she lost whatever little faith she had in Jake after his plans come up short and she gets word he may be a con man), but soon Margaret finds herself in need of rescuing as she's fallen into the clutched of the nefarious Sidney (Hurt), the same man who now has her sister. Is Jake who he claims to be, or just a flim flam man only out for personal gain? Let's hope the former instead of the latter, for Margaret's sake...

I wanted to like this film, which was mostly shot on location in Africa, a lot more than I did, but the end result felt a bit like a Wayne Crawford vanity project (Wayne not only starred in the feature, but also took co-writer and producer credits, while his partner, Andrew Lane was a writer, director and a producer). I'm not sure if this was meant to be a parody, or a satire, but the comedy fell a bit flat (uninspired writing). I really liked the idea of the adventure novels being based off real life escapades, but the film didn't have the `zing' to live up to its ambitions, in my opinion. Perhaps this was a case of too few people wearing too many hats, so to speak. Crawford was certainly handsome back in the day, sporting his David Hasselhoff perm, but he seemed to lack any real, distinctive traits to make me believe he was a hero featured in the type of books that were supposedly the result of his character's adventures. The one thing I really noticed was the lack of chemistry between Crawford and Kopins, or even Crawford and Christopher, for that matter. A manicured coif and a big gun do not a hero make...I thought Kopins and Christopher both did well enough (at least with the material they had to work with), and it certainly didn't hurt the fact that Kopins was just so damn attractive. As far as Hurt, he plays his effeminately evil character over the top, for sure, but if you've read any of the novels related to in the movie, then you'll know his portrayal was in line with the villain characters depicted in the material. Too bad Crawford didn't see fit to take his part to the hilt, living up to the character he was supposedly representing. One aspect about the story really annoyed me and that was with regards to Speed's plan to find Margaret's sister. He was going to use Margaret as bait, selling her off to some white slavers in the hopes that they would then lead him to their lair, where Margaret's sister was being held...the plan ended up going afoul as Margaret, who was never informed of the plan, screwed everything up as she thought Speed was actually trying to sell her off. Afterwards Speed grouses about how his solid plan went down the tubes, but it seems to me things might have gone a lot smoother had he let Margaret in on what was going on...actually, I doubt Margaret would have gone along with the plan if she knew about it, as Speed had little idea the white slavers were the ones he was looking for, so either way, the plan was a lousy one. One aspect I really liked was Speed's preference to do things the `hard' way, if only to make for a more interesting read in the books. As far as the direction, it was serviceable (this was Lane's first time directing), but I felt the flow of the film stuttered quite a bit, and there were a number of scenes I thought could have been trimmed to allow for less drag time (the opening kidnap sequence was way too long, especially for a relatively inconsequential character...Margaret's sister was the impetus for the adventure, but the character was a minuscule part). Despite those negative aspects I mentioned, I will say I thought there was a good deal of effort involved, and a real desire to entertain. Perhaps had they gotten a different star (one who didn't have an affinity for pastel colored shirts and purple assault vehicles), shortened the running time, and threw a few more jokes in, I would have enjoyed myself a lot more. Overall a good effort, but one that fell a little short, but then that's just my opinion, one that seems to be in the minority when compared to other reviewers.

The picture, presented in widescreen (1.85:1), enhanced for 16X9 TVs, looks good on this Anchor Bay Entertainment DVD release, and the Dolby Digital 2.0 audio comes through well. As far as extras, there's a two page insert that basically lays out the story of the entire feature, along with three trailers for the film, and that's it...pretty skimpy, I guess, but if you're a fan of the film, you'll probably be more pleased in the fact someone took the trouble to put out a good DVD release than disappointed in the lack of supplemental materials.

Cookieman108

If you're interested in a less satirical look at pulp adventure heroes, I'd suggest a film titled Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins (1985), featuring Fred Ward. It didn't spawn the sequels as inferred within the title, but I liked it nonetheless...
April 25, 2006

One of the best Action B-movies ever made

Jake Speed is probably one of the campiest and unrealistic action movies I can remember seeing. But fortunately, it doesn't take itself seriously, and that's its secret - in fact, it's nearly a full-blown comedy. The acting is good, especially by Wayne Crawford, whose humorous, dry expressions and nonchalant attitude are memorable. It's just a shame he wasn't in more recognizable films. John Hurt, Karen Kopins, and Dennis Christopher all give solid performances as well. I think there's probably a little more life to these characters than what is expected of them-even though hardly any of the film's story is the slightest bit believable. Afterall, the story does revolve around a "fictional" paperback action character-who is intended to be fictional in the film's story - that's his cover so to speak.

There are some scenes that will induce uncontrollable laughter. The African bar scene is a true classic, as well as any scene with Jake blasting away with his ridiculously powerful shotgun -"the Kid." Overall, Jake Speed is definitely worth the cover price and has a unique draw. The DVD doesn't feature any extras, but who needs them? There's many other DVDs out there that cost a lot more and are loaded with extras, but don't have one half the entertainment value of Jake Speed, in my opinion. Just don't expect a realistic action film - this one is pure campiness - and is purposely made that way. That's what makes it so good. March 22, 2006

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